"Y-yes, it's me!" Madam Chen wept. "But I didn't write on the tablet! Why would I curse my own child? I——"
"Indeed you would not have done it while awake, but that's not necessarily true when asleep."
Chu Wanning lifted his hand to pick up the memorial tablet as he spoke,
channeling spiritual energy into his palm. Suddenly, blood-curdling screams erupted from the tablet, followed immediately by the heavy, festering scent of the blood trickling forth from it.
Chu Wanning's eyes were cold and piercing, voice stern as he said, "Arrogant wicked spirit, daring to run thus rampant!"
Against the heavy spiritual power gathered in his palm, the writing on the tablet was actually forced to recede bit by bit, screaming. It soon became faded,
and finally, vanished altogether. Chu Wanning squeezed with his pale, slender fingers, and the entire memorial tablet shattered!!
The Chen family, watching from the back, was stunned. Even Shi Mei was stunned.
He couldn't help exhaling, "How impressive."
Mo Ran also couldn't help internally exhaling, how vicious.
Chu Wanning's face turned slightly in their direction. His elegant features were devoid of expression, but there were a few specks of blood that had splattered on his cheek. He lifted his hand to examine the blood on his fingertips before speaking to the Chen family. "All of you stay in the courtyard today, do not go anywhere."
Of course none of them dared to do anything but comply after that display, and promptly answered, "Yes! Yes! We'll obey Daozhang's every instruction!"
Chu Wanning strode out of the shrine room, wiping the bloodstains off of his face indifferently. He lifted a finger to point at Madam Chen. "Especially you. Do not fall asleep under any circumstance. That thing is capable of possession, you must remain awake no matter how drowsy."
"Yes…yes yes yes!" Madam Chen agreed repeatedly, then asked tearily, with a measure of hesitance, "Daozhang, then, my son…is…is he safe?"
"For now."
Madam Chen stared blankly. "For now? Not always? Th-then what must be done to keep my son safe?"
Chu Wanning said, "Capture the demon."
In her panicked worry, Madam Chen forgot her manners and threw courtesy aside to ask urgently, "And just when is Daozhang planning to go capture it?"
"Right now."
Chu Wanning's gaze swept over the Chen family. "Which of you knows the exact place that the red coffin was dug up from? Lead the way."
The surname of the eldest son's wife was Yao. Despite being a woman, she was tall and gallant. Her face showed dread as well, but she was relatively calm compared to the others, and immediately offered, "I know the location, since that place was selected by my late husband and myself. I will guide Daozhang."
The three of them followed Chen-Yao, heading northward the entire way, and quickly arrived at the plot of land purchased by the Chens.
The area was already cordoned off. The plants were dark and overgrown, and there was nobody around for miles. It was completely silent, with not even the sounds of birds and insects present.
Halfway up the mountain, the space suddenly opened up into a clearing. Chen-Yao said, "Three honored Daozhang, this is the place."
There was a grave-suppression rock on top of where the red coffin had been dug up. Mo Ran burst out laughing at the sight of it. "What good is that crappy rock gonna do? Clearly the work of amateurs, toss it aside."
Chen-Yao was apprehensive. "But the Mister from the town said that the demonic beast inside holds the evil spirit down to keep it from getting out."
Mo Ran smiled sarcastically. "That Mister sure has been effective so far."
"..." Chen-Yao said, "Toss, toss toss toss!"
Chu Wanning said coldly, "No need." He lifted his hand, fingertips glowing golden as Tianwen answered the call. A single flick of the willow vine, and the rock was cracked into pieces! Expressionless, Chu Wanning walked over to stand among the debris, and raised his hand once again in a threat. "What are you hiding for? Get the hell up!"
A strange 'geh geh' sound came from below. Suddenly, a twelve feet tall wooden coffin burst forth from the ground, spraying earth everywhere, sending dust flying.
Startled, Shi Mei said, "This coffin has such heavy demonic energy!"
Chu Wanning said, "Fall back."
Tianwen struck the tightly sealed red coffin in a backhanded lashing, sending sparks flying. There was a moment of silence, then the lid of the coffin split open, and the object inside was revealed as the thick smoke dispersed.
Inside the coffin was a man, completely naked. He had a straight nose and handsome features, and would have looked as if he was merely asleep, if not for the paper-pale whiteness of his skin.
Mo Ran's gaze zoomed below the man's waist, then he made a show of covering his eyes. "Aiya, the stinky jackass isn't wearing any pants."
Shi Mei: "..."
Chu Wanning: "..."
Chen-Yao called out in surprise, "Husband!" She made to rush toward the coffin without a second thought. Chu Wanning reached out to hold her back, asking with a raised eyebrow, "This is your husband?"
"Yes! He's my husband!" Chen-Yao was stricken with both fear and grief. "How did he end up here? We definitely interred him at the ancestral grave, fully dressed in burial clothes, how did he…"
She started wailing before she could finish, beating her chest in anguish. "How could this happen! So wretched——so wretched! My husband…my husband!!"
Shi Mei sighed. "Mistress Chen, please restrain your grief."
Chu Wanning and Mo Ran both ignored the weeping woman; Chu Wanning didn't know how to comfort people, and Mo Ran had no compassion to speak of. The two of them stared at the corpse in the coffin.
Mo Ran had already gone through this in the previous lifetime and so knew more or less what was coming. But he still had to act his part, so he noted, stroking his chin, "Shizun, something's fishy about this corpse."
Chu Wanning: "I know."
"..."
Mo Ran originally had an entire speech planned out, ripped directly from Chu Wanning's original explanation and analysis from the previous lifetime. He'd wanted to take it out this lifetime and give Chu Wanning a shock, but who would've thought that he'd just casually throw out an "I know".
As a teacher, wasn't he supposed to encourage his disciples to speak their own thoughts, and give praise and reward for doing so??
Mo Ran wasn't giving up. He pretended not to have heard the "I know", and kept going. "There's no sign of decomposition on this corpse. Chen-gongzi died over half a month ago; in this kind of environment, he should've long since started festering and leaking pus, and there should already be a layer of corpse fluid accumulated in the coffin. This is the first point."
Chu Wanning shot a cold 'you may continue' kind of look at him: "..."
"Second." Mo Ran was unaffected, and continued to recite Chu Wanning's explanation from the previous lifetime. "The demonic energy coming off this red coffin was very strong before it opened, but conversely vanished after opening. Moreover, there is practically no demonic energy on the corpse itself, which is also quite abnormal."
Chu Wanning: "..."
"Third, have you noticed that, ever since the moment the coffin was opened, there has been a sweet fragrance in the wind?"
The scent was very subdued, one would not have noticed it at all without paying careful attention. At Mo Ran's words, Shi Mei and Chen-Yao realized that there was indeed a faint sweet smell in the air.
Shi Mei said, "You're right."
Chen-Yao sniffed, her face changing color. "This fragrance…..." Shi Mei asked, "Mistress Chen, what is it?" Chen-Yao was so scared that even her voice changed tone. "This fragrance is my mother-in-law's secret recipe, Hundred Butterfly Fragrance!"
No one spoke for a moment. That line written on the memorial tablet in the shrine room, "Erected by Living Person of the Chen-Sun Clan", seemed to appear before their eyes.
Shi Mei spoke, "…Could it be that this whole thing really is Madam Chen's doing?"
Mo Ran said, "It's unlikely."
Chu Wanning said, "It is not."
The two spoke at nearly the same time, then looked at each other. Chu Wanning's expression remained even. "You go ahead."
Mo Ran spoke without modesty. "As far as I know, the Chen family made their fortune on the Madam's unique Hundred Butterfly Fragrance. Its recipe is kept secret, but the finished product is not hard to obtain. Of every ten girls in Butterfly Town, five or six wear this fragrance. In addition, we looked into this beforehand, and it seems that Chen-gongzi also quite liked his mother's Hundred Butterfly Fragrance, and often mixed it into his bathwater when bathing, so it's not at all strange that his body carries this scent. What is strange is that…"
He turned his head back toward the naked man in the coffin as he spoke.
"He's already been dead for half a month, but this fragrance is fresh as if it's been freshly applied. Am I right, Shizun?"
Chu Wanning: "..."
"Could you just praise me a little if I'm right~"
Chu Wanning: "Mm."
Mo Ran laughed. "You really don't like to waste words."
He'd hardly gotten two chuckles in before it was lost in a flurry of robes, billowing as Chu Wanning grabbed him and swiftly moved them back several feet. In his hand, Tianwen glowed brightly golden, fire light dancing.
"Look out."
The smell of Hundred Butterfly Fragrance in the air suddenly thickened, a white fog materializing as the scent filled the air, spreading with alarming speed. The entire area became a sea of fog almost instantly, so dense that one could not even see the fingers on their own hand!
Mo Ran's heart stirred.
The illusory realm was opening.
"Ah!!" Chen-Yao's shriek was the first thing to be heard in the thick fog. "Daozhang hel——"
She did not get to finish speaking before the sound was suddenly cut off.
Chu Wanning's fingertip glowed blue as he placed a tracking enchantment on Mo Ran's forehead. "You be careful while I go check out the situation."
Then he quickly disappeared into the thick fog, following the direction of the voice.
Mo Ran touched his forehead, laughing in a low voice. "Well well, even the position of the enchantment is exactly the same as in the last lifetime. Chu Wanning, you really haven't changed at all."
The fog had come fast but it dispersed just as quickly, and was completely gone before long. The scene that revealed itself before him, however, was even more startling than the fog was. At least, Mo Ran had gotten quite the scare out of it in the last lifetime.
When the fog disappeared, the desolate and overgrown mountain was gone.
In its place was a vast expanse of intricate and elegant landscape gardens, pavilions and winding verandas, rock gardens and verdant trees, with a cobblestone path stretching beyond what the eye could see.
The mere sight of this place made Mo Ran want to roll on the floor in joy.
This tyrannical jackass had been thinking about this very illusory realm the entire day. In the previous life, they'd all become separated here as well; Mo Ran had run into Shi Mei first, and under the hypnosis of the illusion, had kissed him for the first—and only—time in his life.
Unfortunately, that time, Shi Mei had run away as soon as Mo Ran had let go, perhaps out of fright. The sweet nectar had been taken away before he'd barely even got a taste of it, and he was left unsatisfied.
Later, after the illusory realm had been broken, Shi Mei hadn't even fussed over this matter with him. It was as if the kiss had never even happened, and neither of them had ever brought it up again. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, Mo Ran had wondered if it had just been a fantasy born of his deep obsession.
Fantasy or not, Mo Ran thought as he licked his lips, Shi Mei is not getting away that easily this time! I'm gonna get my fill of smooches all at once!
Author's Notes:
According to historical facts, courtesy names are received at age 20. However, In this cultivation world, one debuts and receives their courtesy name at age 15. I personally really like the three characters in Mo Weiyu (墨微雨), they look more beautiful than Mo Ran (墨燃). So I wanted to present them sooner, hahahaha.