A Life with You

25. Master

Previously...

All the eyes were now on the old man who was the only one without a sword in his hand. But they did not let their guard down, "And why can't you tell it yourself?" Wei wuxian demanded. The man just smiled before turning into a snake and wrapped himself around the talisman on the ground. In a swift second, he disappeared into thin air leaving behind guilt and confusion.

Third Person POV

The old man sighed just as everyone turned to him. "I know-" His words went unfinished as the boy on the bed coughed, his eyes slowly opening. Wei wuxian was the first to rush to him behind him came the Yunmeng Jiang disciple. "Are you alright? Here, have some water." The Jin accepted and drank it empty before looking at his uncle. 

Jinling, "Wei wuxian! I need to tell you something important and you must promise to help me no matter what it is." The said person just nodded his head. Behind him, the Lan sect leader stood concerned. "Ah! greetings Sect leader Lan but what are you doing here?" The boy slowly took in his surroundings. 

Jinling, "When did I come here?" The Jiang disciple kneeled down, "It was all my fault, I shouldn't have let you off alone here." Jinling only looked more confused. "Why are you here, shouldn't you be with uncle?"

Confusion was written on everyone's face. "Young master Jin, could you tell us what you remember before losing consciousness?" Jinling opened his mouth but rather than words blood came out. 

After a while of cleansing all forms of evil from his body, the boy told them everything that happened from the moment he found the ritual place. The Yunmeng jiang disciple then told him every other thing that he missed.

Jinling, "I think I know why I don't remember." Everyone looked at him, expecting him to continue. "Well... I may have used some of my energy on tha-" Everyone was startled by the loud voice, "You activated it? Are you out of your mind? If Jiang cheng hears about it, he will definitely chop your legs." Lan wangji calmed his husband down. Soon all the elders made a decision to invite Sect leader Lan to Gusu.

The Yunmeng Jiang disciple went back to Yunmeng with the invite. While the others were discussing about the incident, but nobody asked the grandmaster any questions.

Lan qiren, "We will continue this discussion when sect leader Jiang arrives." Everyone left the main hall and went to their rooms. Though Wei wuxian went to Jinling's room to check on the sleeping boy whose energy was completely exhausted.

Lan qiren paced around his room, deep in his thoughts, 'How did he leave his body that easily? Did he find another host? But it did not seem like he left on his own. Did the summoners find a better body? Something cursed.'

In Yunmeng Jiang, Lotus Pier,

Jiang cheng, "A talisman...ritual, What if!" The Jiang took his sword and headed towards the entrance. "Jinling must have left only a few minutes ago, maybe I shouldn't have scared him." The leader ran out towards Gusu. 

"What if those people do something to him, he did see them while coming back from Gusu." As the sect leader looked through the forest for any trace of his nephew, he crossed upon a huge formation carved onto a large rock.

He walked closer to it, observing his surroundings. He was not far from Yunmeng, it would only take 3hrs on foot and 1hr on sword. But the audacity of those people to make a formation near Yunmeng! His was furious as he looked at all the talismans surrounding a tree. White and black cloths were hung on the tree, filling the place with dark aura. As he looked at every detail a gold torn cloth caught his attention.

"It's Jinling's!" He picked it up and kept it in his sleeves and continued looking around. He was searching for something, an item to be exact. An item which connected directly to the summoning spirit. After completing a round around the huge tree, he observed the formation. It was almost complete. But it was missing blood and a talisman. 

He does not know anything about evil formations but from all the evil cultivators he'd killed, he knows what it is supposed to look like. He even did a few research on it. He took a talisman from the formation and the moment it left the stone it turned into a normal paper.

His mind went into panic. If what Jinling told was true, then the talisman missing must be in his hands. He immediately regretted giving it back to Jinling, if in any case, Jinling had used his energy on it, then he would become the host. But it won't enter him since the formation is here. He sighed relief and unsheathed his sword. 

"If this formation can harm him, then it should never exist." One of the good things about evil formations was that each formation is unique and different. Making it almost impossible to recreate the same one. He cut through all the talismans and pierced the stone breaking it. Nothing can withstand the great Sandu.

After destroying the formation into pieces, he sheathed his sword and sighed relief. Now he just needs to tear that talisman as well. Just then he heard footsteps and immediately hid on top of the tall tree.

"Master is going to kill us once he comes here, it's all because of that damn brat."

"At least he got what he deserved. Spoiling our formation and escaping isn't that easy. We altered the formation after all. Now as long as he uses some spiritual energy, the formation will activate and use his body as a host."

"But is it alright. Master was supposed to enter his body though."

"OH NO! someone destroyed our formation!"

Jiang cheng jumped down from the tree with his sword in his hand. When he landed, in front of him stood three men. He pointed his sword at them, and they immediately raised their hands in surrender. 

Jiang cheng, "What do you mean you altered the formation?" The three kneeled down before the Jiang, frightened by his cold voice.

"I-we changed the f-ormation b-because a-a boy stole our ta-talisman." Jiang cheng nudged them further with his sword, "So you're telling me, he might become a host!" The three bowed down, "Not necessarily. Since the formation here is destroyed, it might not affect him anymore."

Jiang cheng thought about it before moving his sword away from them, "Then tell me, how do you know if he has started it or not." One of them looked up, "We could try connecting to our master, if the tree doesn't glow then the boy must not have activated it." Jiang cheng took a step back, "Then do it. But remember, if you try something I will kill all you." the three immediately bowed and rubbed their hands together, begging for mercy.

The three then sat with their hands joined and started to connect with their master when the Jiang tapped the sword on the ground. No matter how much they tried the tree did not glow. Jiang cheng got tired of it and tapped his sword down at the same time when dark aura filled the ground and dashed to the tree making it glow white. 

The three quickly left their formation and bowed before the tree, "Master! Forgive us for being late." The said one froze when he felt a sword on his neck. "What trick did you do!"

The man bowed before the Jiang, "I swear on my master, we did nothing other than check his presence." 

Jiang cheng started to overthink, 'How it that possible? He was normal when he last saw him. Did he activate it after leaving Yunmeng?' "How do you stop it?" The three became quite but when the sword neared them they bowed again, "We can't return a summoned spirit as strong as our master. But we can try changing the host." Jiang cheng immediately calmed down, 'He will just change the host and everything will be normal.'

Jiang cheng, "Then do it!" The three looked at each other, "We need a host though." Jiang cheng rolled his eyes before walking towards the tree. He bent down and took an insect. "Here, now change the host!" They three looked down, "We can't do it on just anybody. B-but we will try." They took the insect and placed it in the middle and started another formation. "Master is definitely going to punish us."

Jiang cheng waited for 2hrs when patience finally left his body. At the same time his ring sparkled brightly, indicating demonic spirit. The trees swayed intensely, as the air became thick. He unleashed Zidian as the dark aura thickened.