Chapter 37

Cheng Hui thought for a moment and then asked, “During that time, did anything else strange happen in the capital? Or… did anyone else pass away?”

Ye Qi pondered for a while, showing a serious expression. “I wasn’t working in the capital back then, but I remember chatting with a friend who mentioned that in a certain year, quite a few high-ranking officials and nobles died in the capital. If I calculate the time, it seems to match up. Could it be…”

Everyone simultaneously looked at the portraits on the wall, feeling a chill run down their spines.

“Can a painting really cause someone to die?” Xin Erniang couldn’t help but shiver.

Cheng Hui carefully observed the paintings and noticed that each portrait was so lifelike and full of spirit, as if the people on the paper could walk out at any moment.

“These paintings…” Ah Qiu also looked at them through Cheng Hui’s eyes. Even though he hadn’t specialized in soul-related techniques, he had encountered many similar methods. To him, these paintings looked more like individual souls.

“Let that big monk try to perform a transcendence,” Ah Qiu suggested.

“Master Xuan Tan, could you perform a transcendence for the departed souls here?” Cheng Hui asked.

Master Xuan Tan was a bit surprised but didn’t ask further. He sat down cross-legged and began chanting the transcendence scriptures.

The Buddhist chants echoed, and soon the paintings began to change. The people in the portraits showed expressions of extreme pain, struggling as if they wanted to escape from the paper.

“What’s happening?” Xin Erniang was startled and almost impulsively wanted to attack the paintings.

“Damn it! Such cruel methods!” Ye Qi was shocked and then furious. “That Master Xie actually forcibly took living souls! What is he trying to do?”

“These are living souls?” Xin Erniang was taken aback. Living souls are forcibly extracted from living people, and even a tiny bit can have a huge impact on ordinary people.

The most obvious effect is that without this bit of living soul, a person becomes weak and unable to resist illness. Even a simple cold could be fatal.

Moreover, living souls are excellent supplements for demons and can be used in some evil methods to achieve many incredible effects.

It’s said that in the previous dynasty, there was a noble consort who maintained her beauty by consuming living souls. She even bewitched the foolish emperor to use living souls to strengthen his body and seek immortality. It’s safe to say that the downfall of the previous dynasty was partly due to her.

Of course, such news wouldn’t be widely spread, and the current dynasty’s Demon Suppression Division is very strict about such sinister matters. Anyone involved would face extermination, leaving no survivors, to prevent such evil methods from spreading.

“Wait…” Cheng Hui suddenly thought of something and looked back at the three paintings from before. “Master Xie painting Meng Lang could be seen as revenge against him, but why did he paint his own wife and daughter?”

Everyone thought about it. Yes, Master Xie would surely know the consequences of extracting living souls, so why would he harm his own wife and daughter?

These paintings, containing human living souls, had become evil objects. Taking them out would surely cause serious consequences.

Master Xuan Tan’s transcendence could only make them manifest but had no other effect. After all, they weren’t full souls, just a bit of living soul.

To prevent these living souls from being tormented further and to stop anyone from using them for mischief, they searched the secret room thoroughly. Finding nothing else, they set the paintings on fire.

As soon as they stepped out of the secret room, they felt a gust of cold wind.

“Watch out!” Ah Qiu exclaimed.

Cheng Hui saw a dark shadow flash before his eyes, with sharp claws reflecting a cold light, aiming straight for his hand.

“What the heck is this?” Cheng Hui was startled, thinking he was done for and about to bleed.

Unexpectedly, his hand twisted in an almost bizarre way, a red light flashed at his fingertips, and with a fierce swipe—

“Ow!”

The dark shadow let out a miserable scream and fled from Cheng Hui’s side, only to collapse a few steps away, spilling its innards all over the ground.

Everyone took a closer look and found that the shadow was a yellow weasel. It lay on the ground, twitched twice, and then died.

“Wow!” Xin Erniang exclaimed, looking at Cheng Hui with changed eyes.

Who knew you, with your thick eyebrows and big eyes, could be so ruthless…

Remembering how she had provoked Cheng Hui before, Xin Erniang couldn’t help but shiver.

Ye Qi and Master Xuan Tan also looked at Cheng Hui differently.

They had always thought Cheng Hui was a newcomer to this field, and even if he had some skills, he probably wasn’t very strong. But that move just now was quite extraordinary.

Both of them could have dealt with the weasel, but not as effortlessly as Cheng Hui did.

While everyone was having their own thoughts about underestimating Cheng Hui, Cheng Hui himself was also confused.

My hand isn’t listening to me; it has a mind of its own… (:з」∠)

“Ah Qiu? Is that you?”

“It’s me…” Lin Qingqiu was also surprised.

Cheng Hui’s mouth twitched. “You can control my body?”

“Not anymore…” Lin Qingqiu tried to control Cheng Hui’s body again, but Cheng Hui didn’t respond.

Cheng Hui breathed a small sigh of relief. He didn’t fully trust this Ah Qiu. He couldn’t beat him, nor could he chase him away, so he had to deal with it.

But if Ah Qiu could control his body, that would be a big problem. The cultivation world is never short of various possession methods.

Although he didn’t know why Ah Qiu could control his body, it seemed that the method couldn’t be used at will, so there was no need to worry for now, or worrying wouldn’t help anyway.

With a silent sigh, Cheng Hui felt that his life after transmigrating was too miserable… The main world started with his death, and he died and came back to life. He finally got noticed by a beautiful woman, but before he could even say a word to her, he forgot her appearance.

He got a golden finger allowing a second transmigration, but his mind had an amnesiac soul. And not only was it amnesiac, but it also had a way to control his body. This is just…

Could it get any worse than this???

“We’ll talk about this later. Let’s first see what’s up with that weasel,” Lin Qingqiu instinctively felt something was wrong and interrupted Cheng Hui’s thoughts.

Indeed, Cheng Hui was distracted by him and couldn’t think about it anymore. He was also curious why the weasel attacked him.

Ye Qi and Master Xuan Tan were already examining the weasel’s corpse.

The weasel died miserably, its entire abdomen sliced open by Cheng Hui’s fingers, with its innards spilled on the ground.

This weasel had some cultivation, and its fur was almost impervious to blades, which highlighted the power of Cheng Hui’s move.

After examining it, both of them found the weasel’s appearance very suspicious.

Among the four of them, Cheng Hui and Xin Erniang had the lowest cultivation—at least before Cheng Hui’s exposure, they were about the same.

When they came out, Ye Qi was leading, and Cheng Hui was the third to come out. The weasel managed to avoid Ye Qi’s detection, showing it had some talent in that area. So why did it choose to attack Cheng Hui instead of the second person, Xin Erniang?

Even with its talent, the longer it stayed hidden, the more likely it would be discovered. Choosing Cheng Hui as its target must have had a special reason.

Everyone looked Cheng Hui up and down, and soon their attention focused on his hand.

“Is its target these three paintings?”

Everyone had a realization.

“It seems these three paintings are crucial items. Please make sure to protect them, Cheng Benefactor.”

Just as Master Xuan Tan finished speaking, Cheng Hui handed him one of the paintings.

Master Xuan Tan: …???

Cheng Hui chuckled awkwardly. “Master, I’m not strong enough to protect them. Besides, keeping all three with me isn’t safe. How about we each take one? That way, even if something happens, we won’t be completely helpless.”

Ye Qi and Master Xuan Tan exchanged a glance and agreed that Cheng Hui made a good point.

Xin Erniang pouted unhappily, but she knew she was the weakest among them. She couldn’t even handle the weasel, so giving her a painting would be a burden.

The three of them each took a painting, with Cheng Hui holding the one of Miss Xie.

He chose this one because Ah Qiu reminded him.

Judging from what happened before, Master Xie and his wife might not have been as loving as the old butler recorded. Just the fact that Master Xie painted these portraits showed there was something going on.

Xie Ying was Meng Lang, and Master Xie’s wife appeared and disappeared mysteriously. Both of them had issues, so what about Miss Xie, who was also painted?

Could she really be as pure and innocent as the memory suggested?

Whether others believed it or not, Ah Qiu didn’t.

Or rather, Lin Qingqiu didn’t trust anyone except Cheng Hui, including the three people traveling with him.

While they were discussing their next investigation, a large number of wandering ghosts and spirits suddenly appeared around them.

These ghostly creatures weren’t very strong individually, but there were a lot of them, and each one was covered in blood karma, clearly having cultivated by killing.

If it were a one-on-one fight, these evil creatures wouldn’t stand a chance against anyone present. But there were just too many of them.

Ye Qi immediately realized the danger and shouted, “Run!” as he led everyone to fight and retreat.

Cheng Hui, relying on his own strength, could handle one or two, but as mentioned, there were too many of them. Quantity changed into quality, and soon everyone was injured.

Ye Qi’s long blade danced, destroying several ghostly creatures with each swing, but more immediately rushed forward.

Master Xuan Tan held prayer beads to protect everyone. Without his formation to hold them off, they would have been overwhelmed by the ghosts.

Seeing the prayer beads in Master Xuan Tan’s hand gradually dimming, Ye Qi suddenly let out a scream and was sent flying.

Immediately, Cheng Hui felt a powerful pressure descend upon him, as if he had been struck hard, causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood.