"Thank you, Immortal Master, for saving my life!"
"Here are eight hundred taels of silver, one hundred taels of gold, and three kilograms of jade. The Deng family fortune has fallen, and this is all that's left now..."
"Also, there is this box of jewelry."
Within the dimly lit ancestral hall the candle flames flickered, and more than twenty people knelt on the ground drenched in rainwater, as the family head, Deng Chicheng, stood before the threshold of the hall, deeply bowing inside.
The elderly man had gray hair and his voice trembled uncontrollably.
Having just returned from the brink of death, it was hard for anyone to remain calm.
But now, he was even more nervous...
For the youth in the coffin possessed a strength far surpassing the Great Demon from before, able to obliterate it instantly with a mere grab of a Peach Wood Sword.
However, judging by the young man's countenance, he seemed approachable, quiet, and gentle, not resembling a cruel and violent killer.
Offering sincerity along with gratitude should be enough to send him away.
"..."
The youth stood inside the ancestral hall with his back to the crowd.
He slowly paced, as if pondering something or searching for something.
A moment later.
"I do not need these things."
Xie Xuanyi stopped walking and slowly turned around; he indeed was searching for something.
Something he never parted with.
"Whatever orders you have, please feel free to give them!" Deng Chicheng quickly responded in fear and trepidation.
Xie Xuanyi spoke indifferently, "Have you seen... my sword?"
With these words spoken.
A sword?
Deng Chicheng looked a bit confused and instinctively glanced behind him at the banyan tree where the Peach Wood Sword used to slay the Great Demon had been rehung, dripping demonic blood in a steady drizzle.
"Or rather, have you... seen my sword?"
Xie Xuanyi looked towards the crowd kneeling at the front of the hall.
He had awoken from the coffin and found himself in a set of plain white mourning clothes.
Those who enter coffins are considered dead.
As a dead person, one must sever ties with the mundane world.
"After death," someone had bathed him and changed his clothes.
That person, took away his sword.
In the sudden silence, a weak woman's voice answered.
"The sword you are looking for... is not here."
The door of a nearby side room was pushed open.
Deng Baiyi had changed into a new gown and retouched her makeup to cover her depleted appearance, but her face was still gaunt.
She leaned against the wall and said hoarsely, "This coffin was delivered to the Zhou residence, and no one has opened it since. If you can't find what you're looking for, that means it was taken before it entered the coffin."
Xie Xuanyi frowned and looked at Deng Chicheng. "Where did you buy this coffin from?"
"..."
Deng Chicheng was stunned, unsure of how to respond.
"Don't ask him anymore; my father knows nothing," Deng Baiyi said softly. "I actually bought this coffin; if you trust me, come with me..."
With that, she picked up an oil-paper umbrella from the corner and walked outside the residence.
...
...
Yuzhu Town lay beyond the northern boundary of Jiayong Pass, in a remote location with few inhabitants.
During the late autumn, each rain ushered in colder weather. A thinly clad woman led the way ahead, shielding herself with an oil-paper umbrella, treading through the muddy wilderness paths, with Xie Xuanyi casually following behind her.
The north wind cut across their faces like a knife, causing the oil-paper umbrellas to emit a series of crisp sounds. Thus, the two umbrellas, one ahead of the other, advanced against the wind.
Xie Xuanyi, looking at the sides as if mountains were painted with thick ink, faintly praised, "This place has a nice view."
Deng Baiyi said, distantly, "In recent years, due to frequent demon troubles near Jiayong Pass, many people from Northern County have chosen to move southward; not many people live here anymore... Places with no people generally have good scenery."
"Demon troubles..."
Xie Xuanyi of course noticed the irony in her words, knitted his brows, and asked, "Didn't the Dachu Royal Family dispatch a 'garrison commander' to station here?"
"Garrison commander?"
Deng Baiyi as if hearing a great joke.
She instinctively looked back at Xie Xuanyi, but seeing his serious and grave expression, Deng Baiyi paused for a moment.
He wasn't joking.
"The Dachu abolished the 'garrison commander' system the year before last; all one hundred and eight garrison commanders who were previously stationed in the northern borders were dismissed and called back to the Imperial City to await new orders," the woman said silently, downturning her eyes self-mockingly. "Where are there any garrison commanders now? Jiayong Pass has long been beyond the control of the law; in a few years, this place will completely become a dead land."
"The 'garrison commander' system was abolished... Why?"
"Who knows? The emperor died, and the four territories descended into chaos. In recent years, the northern border has been particularly depleted of Primordial Energy, leaving cultivators with nowhere to cultivate. Perhaps this place has been abandoned?"
After a long silence, Xie Xuanyi asked again, "What about the Sword Palace, didn't they send someone?"
"Sword Palace, are you talking about Da Sui Sword Palace?"
Deng Baiyi turned his head back, sighed deeply, and emotionally asked, "How long exactly have you slept in that coffin, elder?"
"The Sword Palace has been closed for almost ten years... All disciples who were outside have been recalled; Lotus Peak has retreated from the world, a whole ten years, and all sword cultivators have disappeared."
Xie Xuanyi was somewhat surprised when he heard this.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something more, but ended up remaining silent.
"This is it…"
Deng Baiyi stopped walking, leading Xie Xuanyi to a desolate mountain ridge, where wild grass grew in abundance, and a solitary broken wooden stele stood, bearing scribbled inscriptions eroded and worn by the passage of time.
"This is where you bought your coffin?" Xie Xuanyi knelt down, looking at the wooden stele, and reached out to wipe away the mud.
"Half a year ago, Yuzhu Town was visited by several Great Demons. One of them took an interest in me and wanted to marry me."
"I thought of escaping... but all attempts ended in failure."
"Just when I was completely despondent and ready to take my own life, a wandering Taoist came to Yuzhu Town."
Deng Baiyi squatted next to Xie Xuanyi, with a blank look, muttered, "That Taoist was very accurate in fortune-telling, he recited my birth date and saw through my thoughts. He asked if I wanted to live, if I wanted a great opportunity, and I said... yes."
"And then?"
"He asked me for three thousand taels of silver."
"And then?"
"I gave it to him."
"The Taoist told me, if I did not want to be involved with a Great Demon, to go and 'marry in the netherworld.' He pointed me to this place, right here. This place has a coffin, and there was a person inside." Deng Baiyi slowly turned his head, looked at Xie Xuanyi sincerely, and apologized, "I'm sorry, I thought you were long dead."
So, that's how the story went on.
A "naive" young girl, spending three thousand taels, bought the Taoist's broken life prediction, and brought a coffin back to her home.
"You were scammed."
Xie Xuanyi looked at Deng Baiyi, helplessly saying, "For cultivators, gold and silver are external objects... If he were a true Taoist, why would he use money as a bargaining chip to exchange the secrets of heaven?"
He paused.
Xie Xuanyi, rubbing his temples, added, "Moreover, this matter of 'marrying in the netherworld' is utterly nonsensical."
"I know," Deng Baiyi said, "There hasn't been a wedding ceremony, nor have we knelt together; there's no reality of us being husband and wife."
"...nor is there the name of a husband and wife," Xie Xuanyi said with a headache, "Between you and me, at most, there was a mere acquaintance, nothing more."
"According to the customs of Northern County, the moment you move a coffin into the family home counts as marrying in the netherworld. If a young woman undergoes such a ceremony, she marries the Netherworld Lord, she must not marry another in life, and must also be buried together in death."
Deng Baiyi, beautiful in both figure and appearance, propped her cheek with one hand, seriously looking at Xie Xuanyi, "Don't you have this custom where you're from? Or is it that you disdain me?"
"Old customs and regulations..."
Xie Xuanyi, face filled with frustration, coldly said, "I'm still alive, therefore this marriage is invalid, and you can marry whoever you choose in the future. Where's my sword?"
In this desolate, uninhabited wilderness, though the coffin had been unearthed, he could not feel the slightest aura of his sword.
"You have been scammed."
Deng Baiyi took a deep breath, seriously speaking, "I don't know where your sword is..."
Xie Xuanyi frowned, a thread of murderous intent appearing in his eyes.
"If you want to kill me, then do it!"
Deng Baiyi closed her eyes, thrust out her chest, and assumed an expression of noble resignation to death, "The Great Demons of Yuzhu Town are vengeful and all possess Lifebound Artifacts to anchor their souls. The moment Tu Fei died, the other demons received the news; if killing me isn't enough to vent your anger, I beg you to eradicate these demons to spare the innocent from harm!"
This was why she had brought Xie Xuanyi to this desolate mountain ridge.
Xie Xuanyi slowly stood up.
Although Deng Baiyi had closed her eyes, she still felt the nearly tangible murderous intent in the air.
The rain poured down heavily.
After waiting a few breaths, nothing happened.
Xie Xuanyi solemnly said, "You are still too young."
Deng Baiyi was taken aback for a moment, bewilderedly opening her eyes.
The youth in plain clothes, holding an oil-paper umbrella, stood in front of the empty stele, speaking softly, "Accepting three thousand taels of silver is indeed vulgar and not in accordance with the practices of Taoists. But I believe that the Taoist did indeed see through the secrets of heaven, because I truly was lying in that coffin. You bringing me here, and the words you just spoke, were probably his ideas, right?"
"..."
Deng Baiyi hesitated, at a loss for words.
"Give me a clue about that Taoist, I won't kill you, and I can assure you, you will live well and obtain a great opportunity,"
Xie Xuanyi calmly asked, "How about that?"
Deng Baiyi hesitated.
"Think it over properly."
Xie Xuanyi smiled, "After I have killed these 'fellows,' you will need to give me an answer."
Deng Baiyi dazedly raised her head.
Only then did she realize where the wandering murderous intent in the air had come from.
"Boom, boom, boom."
The thunder gradually grew, lights ominously flickered one after another in the storm-engulfed secluded mountain night, illuminating the desolate landscape.
This, of course, was not light.
It was pairs of eyes.