Chapter 413: No Fun Killing Her Now (1^st Update)

In the next moment, an overly pale, delicate hand reached out from under the black cloak, as if trying to grab the young master. Ye Wenxin’s expression changed upon seeing this, but the young master quickly reacted, creating some distance between himself and the black figure behind him.

The black figure paused for a moment, before pouncing toward the young master again. However, unlike the gentle approach from before, the black figure was now filled with murderous intent.

The young master’s counterattack was quite strenuous, but his movements appeared somewhat delicate and feminine, almost as if revealing that he was not only a fake Mo Niancheng, but he was actually a woman.

Ye Wenxin immediately figured out the young master’s true identity and hastily commanded the umbrella sword to launch a swift counterattack.

“Kill!”

In an instant, two ghosts came out of the umbrella sword. Sword Ghost and Ghost Mother charged forward separately, ruthlessly slaughtering the chaotic jiangshi. Ye Wenxin also stepped forward swiftly, kicking the black figure away.

The external force shook the black figure, who trembled slightly. The black cloak fell to the ground, but there was no one inside it—it was clearly just the Jiangshi King’s avatar. However, Ye Wenxin had no time to worry about the whereabouts of the Jiangshi King. When she turned around, she saw the slight cut on the Mo Niancheng impersonator’s arm. It was leaking blackish-red blood, indicative of a corpse poison infection.

Just when Ye Wenxin thought that things weren’t looking good, she noticed the imposter giving a faint, bitter smile before transforming back into her original appearance. This beauty—who else could it be but Xiao Zhang?

“Xiao Zhang, that was way too risky.” Ye Wenxin was not at all surprised to see Xiao Zhang, but she hadn’t expected her to know so much about Mo Niancheng so quickly, and even disguised herself as him.

“I was careless. I thought it was a flawless disguise, but I still got found out.” Xiao Zhang gasped, feeling the bite wound burning intensely. In just a short while, the corpse poison had started to spread rapidly. Ye Wenxin picked Xiao Zhang up and, after hurriedly borrowing a place from the old granny whom she had spoken with earlier, kicked the door open and rushed inside.

“Young Master Ye, what in the heavens is going on?”

“I’ll explain later. Miss Mo, please stand guard outside. I need to remove the poison from this girl,” Ye Wenxin quickly explained and promptly pushed Mo Ziqian out of the room, before taking out silver needles from her bag of holding.

At this point, Xiao Zhang was already in so much pain that she was a little delirious. The mutated corpse poison was spreading even faster. If she didn’t get immediate treatment, there would be unimaginable consequences. But Xiao Zhang had covered herself up completely, irritating Ye Wenxin, who just tore her clothing apart.

The first of the Soul Suppressing Eighteen Needles pierced down, eliciting a pained cry from Xiao Zhang, and blackish-red blood flowed from the wound Ye Wenxin had just cut open. Ignoring her screams, Ye Wenxin continued to infuse her qi into the silver needles.

Compared to her previous acupuncture treatment on Xiao Zhang, the pain this time was astronomically more intense. After just a few needles, Xiao Zhang was already sweating profusely, but she regained a bit of clarity. She tried to stifle her cries, but it felt like the needles were penetrating deep into her organs, making it impossible for her to hold back.

As a Secret Guard, Xiao Zhang had endured countless pains, but this was the worst one she had ever experienced in her life. Qi continued to surge chaotically within her body, like turbulent streams surging and crashing, as if thousands of needles were stabbing into her from the inside. Seeing this, Ye Wenxin felt a pang of sympathy, took out a clean white cloth from her bag of holding, and gave it to Xiao Zhang to bite down on to help her endure the pain.

However, Ye Wenxin was not faring all that well either. The Soul Suppressing Eighteen Needles required a vast amount of qi, and her cultivation was still under restriction. It was impossible to apply all eighteen needles in her current state.

An ordinary person might not notice the change in Ye Wenxin’s cultivation, but the person before her was Xiao Zhang. With her keen observation skills, Xiao Zhang would undoubtedly detect something unusual if Ye Wenxin’s cultivation level changed.

Yet, if Ye Wenxin didn’t release the restriction, Xiao Zhang would inevitably turn into a jiangshi and become part of the jiangshi army. Ye Wenxin took a deep breath and ultimately decided to lift the restriction, advancing straight to the Nascent Soul stage.

Xiao Zhang immediately sensed this, but before she could say anything, Ye Wenxin was already inserting the eighth needle, and she nearly fainted from the pain.

“Don’t say anything, wait until I’m done,” Ye Wenxin reassured her. She wiped the sweat that had formed on her forehead and then inserted the ninth needle.

Although Xiao Zhang was in great pain, she remained conscious, looking at Ye Wenxin with an expression of absolute faith. Even if Ye Wenxin were to kill her at that moment, she definitely wouldn’t hold any resentment.

Naturally, Ye Wenxin couldn’t bear to see Xiao Zhang die; otherwise, she wouldn’t have exposed a part of her true strength.

By the time Ye Wenxin had inserted the twelfth needle, the corpse poison was finally under control, and black blood was flowing out from the wound on Xiao Zhang’s arm. The liquid seemed to have a life of its own, making it appear extremely terrifying. Xiao Zhang was already nearing her limit and was unsure if she could continue holding on, but she stubbornly nodded anyway.

Ye Wenxin wanted to continue with the thirteenth needle, but a wave of dizziness suddenly hit her. A startled Ghost Mother quickly stepped forward to support her. Seeing the vulnerable Ye Wenxin, Ghost Mother’s murderous intent resurfaced, but at a stern glare from Ye Wenxin, she immediately retracted her ghostly hand, not daring to act recklessly again.

Ghost Mother could easily discern when Ye Wenxin was in a good mood, and when she wasn’t. In her current state, Ye Wenxin was definitely in a terrible mood.

Sword Ghost, noticing that Ghost Mother had refrained from acting recklessly today, curiously asked through their mental link, “Aren’t you eager for our master’s death? Now would be the perfect opportunity.”

This telepathic conversation did not reach Ye Wenxin’s ears.

Those of the ghost race were inherently cruel, and without a contract binding them, they could only be vanquished. Ghost Mother, in particular, was a rare matriarch of the ghost race. She had a bloodthirsty nature and was unyielding, so she would not easily submit to a human.

But Ghost Mother’s current actions made it seem like she had developed genuine feelings for Ye Wenxin, and was thus unwilling to kill her. Sword Ghost found this change somewhat funny, and she looked at her literal other half with interest.

“There’s no fun in killing her now.” Ghost Mother pouted sulkily, not even sure of her own mindset. For her, killing Ye Wenxin was just part of a game between them; it didn’t carry any other meaning.

However, if Ye Wenxin were to actually die, Ghost Mother would be the first to feel sorrow. Yet, she was reluctant to admit this change in herself. She silently watched Ye Wenxin, and suddenly noticed that Ye Wenxin’s expression had returned to normal. Not only that, but her cultivation level had also increased.

“Nascent Soul stage?” Ghost Mother, no matter how little she knew of the world, was aware of cultivation stages.

Cultivation stages were divided into Qi Refinement, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core (Core Formation), Nascent Soul, Soul Transformation, and Tribulation. Ye Wenxin, who was previously at the Foundation Establishment stage, had suddenly advanced to the Nascent Soul stage, and in less than half a minute, she had progressed from the Nascent Soul stage to the Soul Transformation stage.

Ghost Mother shivered at this thought, and was relieved that she hadn’t acted recklessly just now.