Chapter 358: I Must Be Even More Shameless

Ye Wenxin felt quite embarrassed listening to Hei Haowen’s comments. Just as she was thinking of changing the subject, she heard Jin Xiaoqin’s voice again.

“Ye Wenxin, get back here!”

Both of them exchanged glances. As soon as they heard Jin Xiaoqin’s voice, they booked it, leaving Jin Xiaoqin furiously stomping her feet in the distance with her axe in hand…

“Rebellious disciple! Truly a rebellious disciple! We’re definitely going eight hundred rounds when you come back! Argh, this is infuriating!” Jin Xiaoqin ground her teeth in anger. However, upon seeing Gu Xiangsi in the distance, she quickly reverted to her elder demeanor and seriously instructed Gu Xiangsi, “Xiangsi, make sure to keep your junior sister safe.”

Gu Xiangsi bowed solemnly, but Jin Xiaoqin, still worried, added, “Your junior sister is young and easily deceived by women. You must do your best to keep her from interacting with anyone else but you.”

Gu Xiangsi was puzzled and thought that Jin Xiaoqin truly didn’t understand Ye Wenxin’s character. But her master had given her instructions, so she gave another solemn bow. “Yes, this disciple will not fail in my mission, and will complete this task down the mountain.”

Jin Xiaoqin was still uneasy, but there were some things she just couldn’t tell Gu Xiangsi, so she could only wave her hand and watch as Gu Xiangsi left the mountain, unaware that her overprotectiveness was adding new twists to Ye Wenxin’s story.

……

As night fell, Ye Wenxin and Hei Haowen were staying at an inn when they encountered Gu Xiangsi, who had caught up to them.

“Woah, Senior Sister Xiangsi, what are you doing here?” Ye Wenxin feigned surprise as she looked at Gu Xiangsi. She had already anticipated that Jin Xiaoqin wouldn’t easily be at ease. What she didn’t expect was that Jin Xiaoqin would send Gu Xiangsi, this clingy little temptress, to her.

If Jin Xiaoqin was known for her imposing figure and rising beauty, then Gu Xiangsi was the epitome of youthful charm and fierceness. With her pretty doll-like face and elegant light blue dress, Gu Xiangsi looked outstandingly beautiful.

As soon as Gu Xiangsi saw Ye Wenxin, she immediately reverted to her childish nature, acting all spoiled and cute. “Sis, you’re so inconsiderate! You went out to play without even telling me. If Master hadn’t mentioned you were going to the Southern Dipper Temple, I wouldn’t even know when I’d finally see you next.”

Every time Ye Wenxin had to deal with Gu Xiangsi, she felt incredibly drained, unable to understand how children nowadays could be so full of energy. Additionally, after the exhausting ordeal with Jin Xiaoqin, Ye Wenxin was simply not interested in paying her any attention, and was contemplating offloading Gu Xiangsi onto Hei Haowen to take care of.

But the next moment, Ye Wenxin remembered Gu Xiangsi’s fear of men. Gu Xiangsi, uncertain if her condition had improved, continued to cling to her under this pretext.

“Absolutely shameless!” Ghost Mother was particularly dissatisfied to see this, but since they lacked the ability to act, there was nothing they could do against Gu Xiangsi.

Seeing Ghost Mother be so unusually considerate, Ye Wenxin felt a bit relieved. Just then, she saw Ghost Mother flying over, saying, “Hmph, I need to be even more shameless.”

After saying that, she approached Gu Xiangsi and attempted to possess her. Ye Wenxin, flabbergasted, was about to reprimand Ghost Mother, but Gu Xiangsi had already ejected her from her body.

Gu Xiangsi’s face turned a bit grim, but she still said, “As Master predicted, this malevolent being can indeed confuse the mind. If it weren’t for my strong will, I wouldn’t know how long I would have been under control.”

After some time apart, Gu Xiangsi’s golden aura had grown significantly stronger, almost taking on a tangible form. Her luck seemed to be on the rise—she found money upon stepping out and even got revenge on her previous enemies after descending the mountain. And now, seeing the manual falling from the sky, Ye Wenxin was further convinced that Gu Xiangsi could potentially be a female lead.

“Sorry, I accidentally dropped the manual while flying,” a man soon descended from the sky, awkwardly explaining.

Ye Wenxin intended to return the manual, but seeing that the techniques inside were suitable for Gu Xiangsi, she negotiated and ended up purchasing it as a gift for her.

“Thanks, Sis. I’ve been lacking this manual for a while,” Gu Xiangsi said with a radiant smile, then kissed Ye Wenxin on the cheek to express her gratitude. Ye Wenxin, already numbed to kisses, didn’t even think to resist.

Hei Haowen, witnessing the scene, was extremely excited, which made Ye Wenxin even more puzzled. However, she didn’t dwell on it and continued on with the three of them, enjoying their journey and eating and drinking along the way.

“Have you heard? Yangzhou City is completely empty now.”

“Really? That’s the second-largest city in the Golden Age Dynasty!”

At noon, during lunch, the people nearby were discussing recent strange occurrences. Although Ye Wenxin had previously been indifferent to such matters, the influence of the inherited memories from Celestial Master Zhong had made her very attentive to these tales.

In fact, she was eager to explore more, and fulfill the long-cherished wish Celestial Master Zhong couldn’t complete. This was an unintended consequence of the inherited memories. Ye Wenxin even suspected that Celestial Master Zhong had been too pent up, causing her to develop a man’s interest and find a wonderful thrill in wrestling.

“I heard someone went into the mountains, found a demonic beast, and then cooked and ate it. Can you guess what’s happening in Yangzhou City now?” A man in black, speaking mysteriously, tried to create some suspense.

A man in white, fully captivated, urged the black-clad man to continue. “Come on, tell us. Why do you always leave things hanging?”

The man in black opened his folding fan and continued, “Yangzhou City is now filled with jiangshi.”

“Eh? Jiangshi? Aren’t those supposed to be mythical creatures?” The man in white was even more surprised, unable to understand how a thriving second-largest city could become a city of jiangshi.

“It’s no longer a myth,” the man in black said with a sigh. “Apparently, jiangshi had killed the demonic beast before it was cooked and eaten. Things went mad from there. One bite led to another, and soon, the entire city was sealed off. Now everyone is looking for monks and Daoist priests to deal with the jiangshi. There seems to be no effect though. In fact, the number of jiangshi is increasing.”

The white-clad man looked distressed. “What am I supposed to do? My wife is about to give birth, and I need to get home.”

Yangzhou City was a major thoroughfare on the commercial routes, and to reach the Southern Dipper Temple, Ye Wenxin’s group would have to pass through said city.

Ye Wenxin sighed, suddenly feeling that her best friend had been exceptionally foresighted. Previously, she had given her a flying magic item, the Phoenix Fire. Without the Phoenix Fire, considering Ye Wenxin’s minor character setting, they might have had to return the same way to seek help, or wait until the city was no longer sealed off.

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TL:

A jiangshi outbreak? Time to stock up on glutinous rice grains! Btw, while jiangshi traditionally refers to the Chinese hopping vampire, it can also refer to zombies.

Both are very different creatures, and Chinese hopping vampires don’t infect. They’re corpses reanimated via curse or dark magic, so more like undead than zombies. Maybe author chose to combine both here. We’ll find out more in the next chapters.