Ch23 – The berserk Jing Liansheng

Translator: Abo Dammen

Bai Qing could feel Ci Ying’s heart pounding wildly like a gorilla spotting a banana, yet his face maintained the Saint Child’s serene, elegant composure. 

Ci Ying walked up to Jing Liansheng at an unhurried pace, holding the carefully prepared box in both hands. In a soft voice, he said, “Inside is an Ancient Lotus blessing statue. May it protect you on your journey and keep you safe.”

Bai Qing had expected to see something, anything, different on Jing Liansheng’s face.

After all, Ci Ying was his white moonlight. Yet Jing Liansheng’s expression remained as cold as ever, his voice utterly devoid of warmth. “I don’t need it.”

The words were like a basin of icy water, dousing the small spark of anticipation in Ci Ying’s heart. 

Even so, Ci Ying’s expression didn’t falter, as though he had already anticipated this response. “The Crown Prince’s valor is unmatched,” he said calmly. “Indeed, you have no need of divine protection…”

Bolao couldn’t bear it any longer and cut in, “But the Saint Child is deeply concerned for your safety! This gift was crafted by his own hands. Every part of it carries his heartfelt intentions! We beg you, Crown Prince, please don’t reject it!”

Jing Liansheng’s expression flickered with faint surprise. Seizing the moment, Bolao stepped forward, took the box from Ci Ying’s hands, and firmly pressed it into the hands of Jing Liansheng’s attendant.

The attendant froze as well. After all, this was a gift from the Saint Child. There was no way to discard it outright in front of him. 

Bolao bowed deeply and said with sincere gravity, “We wish the Crown Prince a smooth journey and a safe return.”

Ci Ying immediately followed suit, bowing as well. “May the Crown Prince vanquish evil with ease, triumph swiftly, and return victorious.”

With the atmosphere brought to this point, refusing outright would have been impolite.

Jing Liansheng could only give a stiff nod. “In that case, I shall accept.” 

With that, he turned and left, leaving Ci Ying and Bolao standing where they were, watching his figure gradually recede into the distance. Bai Qing also watched Jing Liansheng’s back, a strange feeling rising in his chest.

Dead guy… is that really how you treated your white moonlight?

At that very moment, a deafening boom, like thunder exploding, detonated beside Bai Qing’s ear, shaking his very soul.

He jolted awake. 

Hard wooden boards pressed beneath his body. He was still lying inside the mandarin duck joint coffin.

Bai Qing froze, a wave of disorientation washing over him.

Was everything just now a dream? Or did I really trigger some mechanism, possess Ci Ying from the past, and experience something impossible?

Like when he’d once seen the memory hidden within the peachwood sword? 

…But why would he have such an ability?

There was no time to dwell on it.

His gaze was immediately drawn upward, to the vast, unobstructed night sky above.

Which meant… The coffin lid had been opened. 

Bai Qing quickly checked himself. His clothes were neat and intact.

He sat up abruptly and began scrambling up the pit wall, using both hands and feet. Soil and gravel slid down beneath his fingers, but he didn’t care. His only thought was to get out of this pit as fast as possible.

At last, his head emerged above the edge. And the scene before him made his eyes go wide.

Jing Liansheng had already broken free of the coffin. 

The four soul-suppressing nails that had once pinned it shut were now shattered into fragments, scattered all around.

The seven Taoists turned deathly pale at the sight, panic seizing them. Their Big Dipper formation collapsed instantly. Formation flags toppled, and talismans strewn everywhere.

Jing Liansheng moved like lightning.

A sweep of Yin wind sent the Taoists flying like fallen leaves, bodies crashing in all directions, miserable and disheveled. Old Butler Jing Ren, watching nearby, was caught in the aftermath as well. Lacking any cultivation, even the trailing edge of the Yin wind was enough to knock him unconscious on the spot. 

Bai Qing looked up.

Jing Liansheng’s eyes were blood-red, his black pupils dilated. He had clearly lost all rationality, like a ferocious beast that had broken free of its chains, ready to tear everything around it apart.

Bai Qing’s heart clenched.

Jing Liansheng was in an extremely dangerous state. The slightest provocation could send him into a killing frenzy. 

Sure enough, the very next second, Bai Qing’s fear came true.

The bearded Taoist raised his sword and lunged forward, striking at Jing Liansheng from behind. Under normal circumstances, Jing Liansheng might have dodged or blocked, avoiding bloodshed if possible.

But the Jing Liansheng of this moment was not so accommodating.

The savagery of a Yin fiend Great Fierce Ghost burst forth in full. His figure flickered. He swung his arm backhandedly. A terrifying force exploded outward, sending the bearded Taoist flying. He crashed heavily to the ground, blood spraying from his mouth, utterly unable to move. 

The Taoist lay there, chest wracked with agony, eyes wide with disbelief.

His earlier clash with Jing Liansheng during the day, and what he’d heard from his junior, had led him to underestimate this ghost. But the Jing Liansheng before him now was like an Asura crawling out of hell, suffused with bone-chilling murderous aura.

He looked around.

His fellow disciples lay scattered across the ground. Some were too badly injured to rise, others were so terrified they couldn’t even summon the strength to flee. 

The once-imposing Big Dipper formation was in ruins, completely useless.

Regret crashed over the bearded Taoist. He’d been far too careless. But it was already too late.

Jing Liansheng raised his hand, clearly about to strike the killing blow. Knowing he couldn’t escape, the Taoist shut his eyes in terror.

Just then, a white figure flashed into existence between him and Jing Liansheng. 

Bai Qing froze, eyes snapping wide. “Senior Apprentice Ying?”

It was Ying Zhili, descending from above, standing squarely in front of the bearded Taoist. Jing Liansheng, murderous aura raging, brought his palm down with unstoppable force.

Yet Ying Zhili showed not the slightest hint of fear. It was as though he had happened to be here, and yet also as though he had come for this very moment.

Just as the fatal strike was about to land, Ying Zhili calmly drew a small, rusted wind chime from his sleeve, lifted it gently, and said only two words, “Wedding gift.” 

Jing Liansheng’s palm halted abruptly, stopping mere inches from Ying Zhili. All that surging, overwhelming power dissipated, forced back by that fragile little wind chime. The chime swayed softly, releasing a few faint, almost inaudible chimes.

Ying Zhili smiled and slipped the tiny wind chime into Jing Liansheng’s sleeve.

Jing Liansheng stood frozen in place. Within his crimson eyes, something stirred, like waves rolling through a sea of blood. His ferocity had receded, yet his rationality had not fully returned. He was like a taut bowstring, liable to snap at any moment, yet held in a strange, precarious balance.

Bai Qing finally hauled himself out of the pit. Forgetting entirely that Jing Liansheng was currently a top-tier Great Fierce Ghost, he rushed over in three quick strides. “Liansheng, wake up!” 

At the sound of Bai Qing’s voice, Jing Liansheng turned stiffly. When his gaze landed on Bai Qing, his brows knit tightly, as if some painful memory had been stirred.

Ying Zhili reacted in a flash, lifting his hand and striking an acupoint at the back of Jing Liansheng’s neck. At last, Jing Liansheng regained clarity. The blood-sea red in his eyes gradually faded. The tight furrow between his brows smoothed out. His entire bearing returned to its usual calm restraint.

Bai Qing let out a long breath of relief. “You scared me to death, husband!”

Jing Liansheng felt his scalp prickle. “Please do not address me like that.” 

Fine, dead guy, Bai Qing thought. We already shook the coffin, why are you still this shy?!

…But then Bai Qing hesitated.

Did we really have coffin-quakes?

The moment Jing Liansheng began absorbing his essence, Bai Qing had grown muddle-headed. After that, he’d even experienced some kind of soul-separating time slip. Thinking back now, that entanglement with Jing Liansheng inside the coffin felt hazy too, like a mirage, dreamlike and indistinct. 

Not to mention, when he woke up, his clothes were perfectly intact…

So… was all of that just his hallucination?

He rubbed his temples, trying to clear his head. Yet the memory remained unreal, making it hard to tell dream from truth.

Ying Zhili’s gaze swept over the Taoists sprawled on the ground. “You may leave.” 

The bearded Taoist in the lead opened his mouth, as if to speak, but suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood, his face turning even paler. The words he swallowed back were obvious enough. We’re all beaten half to death, how are we supposed to leave?!

Ying Zhili seemed to see through them. “I’ll call an ambulance to the mountain gate. You can make your way there yourselves. Just remember, you broke your legs while night hiking.”

“Of course,” the bearded Taoist replied after catching his breath. “We are a righteous sect. We’re not like those jianghu scum who call the police!”

When he said “jianghu scum,” he shot Bai Qing a venomous look, his tone dripping with disdain. 

Bai Qing was speechless. Having trouble and calling the police makes you scum?

I really don’t get these sect Taoists. Are they all unhinged?

Compared to them, his Shifu was practically the most normal one around… No wonder he’d been expelled from the sect!

Several Taoists helped each other up, staggering as they prepared to head toward the mountain gate. Just then, Jing Liansheng’s cold, gloomy voice rang out like a blade of ice. “Did I say I would spare you?” 

The Taoists’ faces changed instantly. Looking at Jing Liansheng now, they trembled like mice before a cat. Where was the bravado they’d had earlier when vowing to exorcise demons and uphold justice?

Bai Qing, however, knew him well.

This dead guy won’t kill people. He’s just still bottling up his anger and wants to show off a little. So Bai Qing chimed in helpfully from the side, fanning the flames. “You’ve really got some nerve ruining our wedding! I’m furious! I want my dead guy husband to chop you up, add some salt, and turn you into canned goods!”

The Taoists went deathly pale. 

They dropped to their knees in a row, bowing frantically, like starving chicks spotting kernels of corn on the ground, heads slamming down again and again as they babbled in panic. “We truly should not have disturbed the happy occasion of you two…”

“Please, have mercy!” The bearded Taoist’s voice shook, on the verge of tears. “We were ignorant and overreaching, offending the two of you. We beg you to be magnanimous and not stoop to our level!”

The others echoed him, kowtowing furiously, foreheads pounding the earth as they chanted, “Please spare us! We’ll never dare again, never again!”

Jing Liansheng said coldly, “I have no interest in your worthless pleas. Each of you will contribute five points of spiritual energy. Do that, and I will spare your lives.” 

Hearing that they had to contribute five points of spiritual energy, the Taoists’ faces all turned the color of wilted vegetables. None of them were willing. This era was no longer like a thousand years ago, when spiritual energy was abundant.

Cultivating in modern society was brutally difficult. Those with poor foundations might not even manage to condense five points of spiritual energy in five whole years, let alone the fact that they were merely mortals with limited lifespans. Every single fraction of spiritual energy was extraordinarily precious.

At this moment, they felt as if knives were cutting into their hearts. They were terrified of death, yet unable to bear losing the hard-earned spiritual energy they’d painstakingly cultivated.

Ying Zhili watched from the side, smiling pleasantly. “If you’re unwilling, then forget it.” Then he turned to Bai Qing and added, “Come to think of it, I know a factory that’s very good at making human-meat canned goods.” 

Bai Qing immediately played along. “Really? That’s perfect! I was worried I’d have to chop them up myself. You know, I’m very delicate and refined, I’m not cut out for that kind of work.”

The moment the Taoists heard this, they shuddered violently, every hair on their bodies standing on end. They exchanged glances, silently calculating.This is still better than losing our lives.

So, gritting their teeth, the senior and junior brothers acted together. Each carefully drew out five points of spiritual energy from their dantian qi-sea. The spiritual energy gathered into tiny firefly-like motes of light. The bearded Taoist cupped them reverently and presented them to Jing Liansheng.

Such precious spirit pearls were offered up before him, yet Jing Liansheng merely flicked his gaze over them indifferently, not even bothering to look closely. With a casual snap of his fingers, he lightly flicked the cluster of glowing motes away. 

Before anyone could react, the light behaved as if it had a will of its own and struck Bai Qing squarely on the forehead. In the blink of an eye, the spirit pearls melted into Bai Qing’s body, vanishing without a trace.

Earlier, after waking up, Bai Qing had felt inexplicably weak, his body hollowed out for reasons unknown. Now, after absorbing that spiritual energy, he felt refreshed from head to toe, strength flooding through his entire body.

Only then did realization dawn on him. So my earlier weakness was caused by spiritual energy loss!

Jing Liansheng said coldly, “Get lost.” 

The Taoists felt as if they’d been granted a royal pardon. Supporting one another, they staggered toward the mountain gate, terrified that lingering even a second longer would invite death.

After watching them leave, Jing Liansheng’s gaze shifted to the old butler Jing Ren, who lay unconscious on the ground. His expression barely changed, so indifferent it was as if he didn’t care at all. Only then did Bai Qing think of something. “Could it be that Jing Ren colluded with those Taoists to harm us?”

“Most likely,” Jing Liansheng replied calmly. “I didn’t expect him to have such nerve.”

“But why would he do that?” Bai Qing asked, still completely baffled, his face full of confusion. 

Ying Zhili laughed. “What’s there to be curious about? Just ask him directly.”

As he spoke, Ying Zhili pulled a bottle of mineral water from his spatial pouch and poured it straight over Jing Ren’s head.

An unconscious elderly man, doused with cold water in the middle of the night, Bai Qing watched with heartfelt distress. That’s Baisuishan, a premium brand!

Do you know how much a bottle costs?! 

Couldn’t you just slap him twice for free to wake him up?!

The icy water made Jing Ren shudder violently. He groggily opened his eyes.

Seeing that he was awake, Ying Zhili casually tossed the empty bottle aside, reached out to help him up, and said kindly, “Elder, you’re finally awake? Lying on the ground so late at night, if you caught a chill, that wouldn’t be a joke.”

Bai Qing thought: …Psycho.