This sickly guy’s nine and a half out of ten sentences are lies. The black cat couldn’t tell if he was joking, but it didn’t stop it from skillfully cursing him: “You’ll die sooner or later because of your loose mouth.”
Xi Jianlan laughed loudly.
Shi’er Ju was a shabby clinic, with a bunch of messy vines like ghost claws blooming in the corner, climbing the wall to the eaves, blooming black flowers.
The clinic didn’t look like it could cure diseases, but more like a haunted house.
The signboard was half fallen.
Pushing open the door, a gust of wind blew through, making Xi Jianlan’s sickly body sway slightly. He couldn’t help but cover his mouth and cough a few times.
He walked into the dim clinic, about to light a fire stick.
Suddenly, a voice came from the darkness, like a venomous snake waiting to strike.
“Xi Jianlan, you really hid deep.”
“Tsk—”
The fire stick just sparked a flame, illuminating the narrow clinic.
Xi Jianlan’s hand stiffened, the pale pads of his fingers turning an unnatural bluish-white from the strain.
The cat on his shoulder fluffed up its fur and scrambled in panic to hide behind Xi Jianlan’s neck.
The entire wall of the clinic was filled with medicine shelves. A man in a ghost-patterned ink-white robe sat boldly on the desk, casually fiddling with a shabby wooden box.
Upon closer inspection, the box contained various forged jade tokens.
The man lifted a half-finished jade seal with the divine beast Xiezhi pattern, clicking his tongue: “Not bad, even the Xiezhi Sect’s jade seal can be forged seven or eight times over, good craftsmanship—does Sheng Jiao know you’re impersonating him and flaunting it?”
Xi Jianlan was stunned.
Had he been following him all along?
Xi Jianlan’s gaze fell on the ghostly black mist swirling around the ghost blade on the desk, feigning calm: “Just some trinkets to make a living… Feng Yu, long time no see, has your ghost blade found its master?”
“Isn’t that so?” Feng Yu snorted, “In six years, the once high and mighty young master of the Xi family has become a sickly cultivator with all his cultivation lost. What’s so special about my ghost blade finding a master?”
Xi Jianlan coughed dryly.
On the desk sat a rhinoceros horn lamp, a magical device used to transmit messages across the Thirteen States, costly and ornate, with calligraphy floating above the flame like fireflies.
Feng Yu casually touched the rhinoceros horn lamp, half-smiling: “Tell me, if I were to inform Sheng Jiao of your presence here, would you still have a life?”
Xi Jianlan: “…”
He’d need eighteen lives and still wouldn’t survive.
The black cat cautiously asked, “An old acquaintance?”
Xi Jianlan’s lips moved slightly: “Enemy, an enemy.”
The black cat thought, “How do you have so many enemies?” but still held a glimmer of hope: “How deep is the grudge?”
Xi Jianlan kept smiling, wary of the ghost blade swirling with black mist on the desk, fearing Feng Yu might suddenly attack and chop off his head.
“See the break on his life blade? Pretty, right?—I broke it.”
The black cat: “…”
The black cat kicked back and slipped away.
Xi Jianlan: “…”
Six years ago, the Xi family was at its peak, prestigious and powerful, controlling the three regions of Central State.
At thirteen, Xi Jianlan entered the Zhuxing Zhai of the Tianyan Academy, where his classmates were among the top prodigies of their age, Feng Yu being one of them.
He was the eldest son of the Feng family of Fengzhou, capable of controlling fierce ghosts and communicating with yin and yang, with a cunning and gloomy temperament.
The two originally disliked each other, but after both were severely dealt with by that bastard Sheng Jiao, they united in hatred, venting their anger by cursing Sheng Jiao for three days and nights, forming a deep friendship.
But the “brotherly friendship” didn’t last long. Xi Jianlan accidentally broke Feng Yu’s prized ghost blade, and that unreliable “friendship” instantly vanished, turning into hatred.
Feng Yu flew into a rage, controlling fierce ghosts to chase Xi Jianlan for eight thousand li.
In the end, Sheng Jiao saved Xi Jianlan, preserving his life.
“How did you find me?” Xi Jianlan tried to ask.
Feng Yu snapped his fingers, and the fireflies on the rhinoceros horn lamp dimmed, then ignited a ghostly blue flame.
“They told me.”
Xi Jianlan was still wondering who “they” were when the ghostly flames ignited, and countless fierce ghosts with hideous faces crowded the entire clinic, making it darker than before without the lamp.
Xi Jianlan: “…”
The cold wind carried the chill from the fierce ghosts, howling like ghost wails at midnight.
Xi Jianlan, already weak, coughed a few times from the cold wind, his face pale as snow, blankly said, “You want my life too? Could it be… you and Sheng Jiao are working together?”
Feng Yu, who hated Sheng Jiao’s coffin-like face the most, immediately frowned and said coldly, “Who would collude with that saw-mouth gourd?! I just want to kill you to vent my anger and to sacrifice my ghost blade’s pain of being reforged!”
“No need to say more, I understand.” Xi Jianlan sighed softly, “Sheng Jiao has wanted me dead all these years, even issued a bounty for my corpse to Xiezhi Sect for 120,000 spirit stones. Feng Yu, I understand you, I really do.”
Feng Yu: “…”
Feng Yu instinctively felt something was wrong but was still led by Xi Jianlan’s words, leaping down from the desk, his ink-white robe fluttering, angry.
“Who cares about that 120,000 spirit stones?! I’m not that poor ghost Sheng Jiao, why would I need to collect a bounty on your corpse? Who do you think you’re looking down on?!”
Xi Jianlan said, “Yes, yes, Feng Young Master is naturally wealthy, the richest man in the Thirteen States—then why do you want to kill me?”
Feng Yu: “?”
Feng Yu choked.
The other fierce ghosts looked at each other.
Feng Yu quickly realized, grabbed his ghost blade, and swung at Xi Jianlan: “I kill you out of personal grudge, nothing to do with Sheng Jiao!”
Xi Jianlan looked weak and sickly, but his words made people grit their teeth in hatred.
“No need to explain more. Even if you want to take my head to Sect Master Sheng to gain credit, I won’t blame you. Who told me I’m fallen now, not as noble as Sheng Jiao.”
Feng Yu was so annoyed by his “understanding” that his head buzzed, and he furiously swung his blade down at Xi Jianlan’s face.
If he heard another word from this bastard, he’d be angry enough to become a fierce ghost!
The ghost blade, wrapped in yin energy and fierce wind, chopped down, blowing Xi Jianlan’s long hair on his shoulder to both sides.
Clearly about to become a soul under the blade, he didn’t blink, standing calmly.
Just as Feng Yu was about to chop off his head, Xi Jianlan suddenly murmured a sigh.
“Sure enough… in another life, is this the ending again?”
Feng Yu’s ghost blade froze, frowning: “What do you mean?”
Xi Jianlan seemed tired after saying this, closing his eyes weakly: “No use talking, kill me if you want.”
Feng Yu refused, smoothly retracting his ghost blade, and said coldly: “What do you mean by ‘another life’ and ‘ending’? Explain it clearly to me!”
Xi Jianlan remained silent, resigned to his fate as if waiting to be executed.
Feng Yu impatiently stepped forward, his five fingers suddenly clamping tightly around Xi Jianlan’s slender neck: “Xi Jianlan, after our long separation, don’t force me to make you listen to the Ghost Sound.”
Xi Jianlan’s eyelashes trembled.
“Ghost Sound” was the Feng family’s secret technique to control fierce ghosts, using incantations to manipulate ghost souls for their own use.
Feng Yu was clever and had tinkered with various things at Tianyan Academy, even managing to modify “Ghost Sound” into a secret technique to control the living.
—Once someone hears the “Ghost Sound,” their body loses control and they answer whatever is asked.
Xi Jianlan had been fleeing across the Thirteen States for six whole years; even the proudest young master’s temper would be worn away. He was very adaptable, abandoning his earlier calm acceptance of death and said straightforwardly: “I’ll talk.”
Feng Yu was stunned.
In four years as classmates, when had he ever seen the proud Young Master Xi admit defeat?
But now, Xi Jianlan, who had once lived in luxury and privilege, was in such a destitute place that even his arrogant and tyrannical temper had been completely worn away.
Feng Yu looked at this strange yet familiar face, unable to express what he felt in his heart, and could only release his grip, his voice harsh but weak: “Then speak.”
Xi Jianlan’s face, made more haggard by illness, looked even more desolate and beautiful. He roughly tidied his messy long hair twice, hanging by a thread yet still losing his composure.
“If I tell you, will you believe me?”
Feng Yu said impatiently: “You speak first, let me hear it.”
Xi Jianlan staggered to his feet, leaning on the medicine cabinet, and sighed silently.
“Do you know… about rebirth?”
Just those two words, and Feng Yu’s impatience gradually disappeared as he frowned and scrutinized Xi Jianlan.
“You’ve been reborn?”
“Yes.” Xi Jianlan nodded. “In my previous life, I also died by your hand, except at that time, you had already become a fierce ghost.”
Feng Yu was stunned, slamming the table and shouting: “Nonsense!”
“But that’s exactly how it was.” Xi Jianlan coughed sickly. “In my previous life, when you were taming that ghost blade at Tianyan Academy, you suffered backlash from the ghost blade due to insufficient spiritual power and died before turning sixteen.”
Feng Yu’s pupils contracted violently!
Xi Jianlan’s eyes showed a hint of sorrow: “You became a fierce ghost because of the ghost blade’s malevolent energy, wantonly slaughtering innocent lives. When Sheng Jiao and I went to capture you, I was devoured by countless ghosts and died with my soul shattered, but somehow gained the opportunity to be reborn at thirteen.”
Feng Yu looked at Xi Jianlan in disbelief, as if trying to judge whether what this person was saying was true.
But soon he reacted, his expression darkening.
Xi Jianlan had been a dandy since childhood, and after they met at Tianyan Academy, he had never heard a single truthful word from his mouth. How could he believe such absurd talk about rebirth?!
Moreover, when Feng Yu had chased Xi Jianlan years ago, he had already experienced this person’s silver-tongued abilities.
This time, he absolutely would not be fooled again!
“Heh.” Feng Yu sneered coldly. “If I believe your ghost stories again, I won’t be surnamed Feng.”
Xi Jianlan seemed to have expected this, his expression still indifferent: “I knew you wouldn’t believe me—do as you please. Dying by your hand would be fine too; I’m tired of living this life of hiding and fleeing.”
Feng Yu looked at him coldly, the fierce ghosts around them ready to strike, as if preparing to pounce and tear him apart in the next moment.
Xi Jianlan appeared to see through worldly matters and disdain life and death, but his palms were actually sweating.
Suddenly, Feng Yu raised his hand.
Xi Jianlan’s breathing suddenly stopped.
But Feng Yu only made the surrounding fierce ghosts retreat several steps.
—He seemed to have no intention of killing Xi Jianlan.
But before Xi Jianlan could breathe a sigh of relief, he saw Feng Yu suddenly part his lips and chant several ghost rune incantations.
That was… “Ghost Sound”!
Xi Jianlan’s pupils shrank sharply. After hearing just two tones, he pretended to be weak and unsteady, staggering slightly, and quickly removed the dangling earring from his ear without leaving a trace.
The earring fell onto his shoulder, sliding down his clothes to the ground.
Click.
The next moment, Feng Yu finished chanting the ghost rune incantation.
Xi Jianlan seemed to be controlled by the “Ghost Sound,” his gaze vacant and hollow as it fell on Feng Yu’s face.
Feng Yu stared straight at him, saying in a deep voice: “Was there a single lie in what you just said?”
Xi Jianlan’s voice was calm as still water, without any emotional fluctuation: “Yes.”
Feng Yu sneered coldly.
Sure enough, he was a liar full of falsehoods, not changed one bit after six years.
But Xi Jianlan continued: “…I didn’t go with Sheng Jiao to kill you; I wanted to save you. But Sheng Jiao believed you harmed innocents and were unforgivable, wanting to use thunder punishment to strike you into powder, never to enter reincarnation.”
The cold smile on Feng Yu’s face instantly froze.
“…What about the rest, are they also lies?”
“No, everything else is true, not a single word false.”
In that moment, the expression on Feng Yu’s face was truly spectacular.
He instinctively doubted the lying Xi Jianlan, but was absolutely confident in his own “Ghost Sound,” which could never go wrong.
Could it be that Xi Jianlan’s claim of rebirth was actually true?
He had broken his own ghost blade back then to prevent the blade from backlashing against him, avoiding the fate of becoming a fierce ghost in his previous life?!
That heartless bastard Xi Jue…
Was he truly wholeheartedly thinking of him?
For a moment, Feng Yu’s murderous gaze gradually began to waver.
…His mind was greatly shaken, completely failing to notice Xi Jianlan’s eyes focusing for an instant then immediately becoming vacant again.
Feng Yu wanted to ask more, but Xi Jianlan seemed possessed, numbly repeating:
“Everything is true, not a single word false…”
“Everything is…”
Feng Yu was stunned, belatedly realizing that the current Xi Jianlan was a sickly person with no spiritual power and completely ruined cultivation—how could he withstand the mental drain of “Ghost Sound”?
He immediately chanted a spell to break the technique.
But even after chanting the counter-spell twice, Xi Jianlan’s eyes remained vacant with no response.
Feng Yu’s face looked terrible as he pressed Xi Jianlan’s shoulder and shouted sternly.
“Xi Jue, wake up!”
Xi Jianlan’s whole body trembled, and his vacant pupils finally focused.
A rare hint of regret appeared in Feng Yu’s eyes: “You, I…”
Although he had always been at odds with Xi Jianlan, they had been classmates for four years and had gone on adventures together, so some friendship remained after all—not enough to truly want his life.
Xi Jianlan’s gaze fell vaguely on the fierce ghosts still lingering around them. Suddenly his pupils contracted sharply, and he staggered against the medicine cabinet, gasping urgently twice before suddenly spitting out a mouthful of blood.
“Xi Jue!”
Remembering the earlier phrase “devoured by countless ghosts and died,” Feng Yu’s face became extremely ugly. He quickly formed a hand seal, making all the fierce ghosts hide in the darkness.
Xi Jianlan covered his mouth, bright red blood overflowing from between his fingers, as if it would never stop flowing.
Feng Yu placed his hand on Xi Jianlan’s back, channeling gentle spiritual power into his meridians—only then did he discover in shock that Xi Jianlan’s meridians were completely shattered, and even his inner core was nowhere to be found.
He looked like someone who wouldn’t live much longer.
Feng Yu was horrified: “You…”
At Tianyan Academy, although Xi Jianlan was a dandy, he was a prodigy comparable to Sheng Jiao.
Now Sheng Jiao had become the Sect Master of Xiezhi Sect at a young age, while Xi Jianlan was…
Xi Jianlan shook his head with effort, coughing blood while saying intermittently: “Water, back, backyard…”
Feng Yu’s thoughts were in chaos. Without time to think much, he immediately got up and ran to the backyard to get water.
But as soon as Feng Yu left, Xi Jianlan, who had been coughing and trembling all over, suddenly changed from his delicate appearance of spitting blood. He quickly crawled up and fumbled around on the ground, finally finding that exquisite dangling earring.
Xi Jianlan wiped it with his sleeve and skillfully fastened it to his ear.
The deathly silence finally disappeared, and faint sounds slowly appeared. He raised his hand to adjust the earring for a while before the sounds in his ears became completely clear.
—It was actually a magical device that helped him hear all things.
Xi Jianlan lazily caressed the delicate earring, muttering quietly: “Something like rebirth, only a big fool like Feng Yu would believe it.”
If it were anyone else, they definitely wouldn’t be swayed by such absurd talk.
The black cat returned, looking at him like he was a scoundrel: “I’ve never heard a single truthful word from your mouth. In all the Thirteen States, your ability to lie is truly unparalleled and unmatched.”
Xi Jianlan said modestly: “You flatter me, ordinarily unparalleled, generally unmatched.”
The black cat: “…”
The black cat was speechless. Just as it was about to leave with cat steps, Feng Yu’s rhinoceros horn lamp on the desk suddenly burst with purple light, and a palm-sized messenger Chongming bird flew out from the fire, circling the rhinoceros horn lamp with a sharp cry.
The cat immediately stopped and uncontrollably chased after the bird.
Xi Jianlan raised an eyebrow slightly.
The rhinoceros horn lamp connected the entire Thirteen States, and purple light with Chongming birds only appeared when there was major news.
Feng Yu was still looking for water in the backyard. Xi Jianlan wasn’t polite with him and tried forming a Ghost Binding seal.
The rhinoceros horn lamp suddenly brightened, and several message fireflies floated in mid-air.
Xi Jianlan smirked.
Back at Tianyan Academy, Feng Yu’s technique for activating the rhinoceros horn lamp was the Ghost Binding seal. Unexpectedly, it hadn’t changed at all after so many years.
The messages in the rhinoceros horn lamp were all recent major events in the Thirteen States. Xi Jianlan casually picked a few interesting ones to scan, and soon found the message that caused the purple light and Chongming bird.
“Shocking! Sheng Jiao appears in Wuyin City”
Below were a bunch of small characters questioning the truth of this message.
“Isn’t ‘Lord Heavenly Dao’ in the Southern Territory? Don’t lie.”
“If you send more than ten false messages, your rhinoceros horn lamp will be gone. Be careful.”
“I heard this news leaked from inside Xiezhi Sect, 100% reliable!”
The black cat failed to catch the bird and primly licked its paw: “Your impersonation of Sheng Jiao has been exposed?”
Xi Jianlan extinguished the rhinoceros horn lamp, acting nonchalant: “No one dares to ask Sect Master Sheng about his real whereabouts anyway, so what do I have to fear?”
Seeing him so familiar with this, the black cat asked puzzledly: “Why are you so certain?”
“Sheng Jiao never looks at rhinoceros horn lamps.” Xi Jianlan continued sitting on the ground playing dead, waiting for Feng Yu to come back and serve him, saying lazily, “Three years ago I impersonated him to swindle at a brothel in the Southern Territory. The Chongming bird flew for three days, and he was completely unaware.”
The black cat: “???”
Impersonating Sheng Jiao… to go to a brothel?
When this bastard dies, it would definitely run far away to avoid being splattered with blood.
The Chongming bird flew around for a while before finally returning to the rhinoceros horn lamp and becoming quiet.
Xi Jianlan concentrated on pretending to be weak, mentally calculating how to fool Feng Yu later, preferably tricking him into helping kill Sheng Jiao to avoid living in constant fear.
…So he didn’t notice that behind the purple-light message from earlier, a “Confirmed” seal had slowly appeared.
##
