Me and the devil

五

Right then, a young girl on the street spoke up, "Don't... Don't listen to him, don't go. Mount Yujun is not a safe place..."

The girl who spoke up was the young girl praying for blessings at Feng Xin's temple last night. Xiao Ying. When Xie Lian saw her face he unconsciously reached up and rubbed the spot on his cheek where she had slapped him.

The young man, the leader, sneered when he saw her. "What's a little girl like you doing? Interrupting when the big men are talking?" He shoved her.

Xiao Ying cowered a little when she was shoved, but she gathered her courage and said quietly, "Don't listen to him. Whether you are faking a wedding procession or searching in the mountains, aren't you all seeking your own deaths?"

"Well, don't you make it sound nice," The leader retorted. "Us men are putting our lives on the line to exterminate evil for the townspeople, but look at you. Selfish and greedy, you refused to play the role of the bride and get on the sedan. You don't even have half as much courage as the most timid man here, and now you're trying to stop us? What are you scheming?"

He shoved her with each word he spoke, making everyone frown in disapproval at him. Xie Lian looked down and unwrapped Ruoye from his wrist when he heard the tea master speak. "That Xiao Pengtou wanted to coax that girl into playing the fake bride before, his words were as sweet as honey, but the moment she refused his words were as venomous as a snake! Truly a two-faced bastard."

On the street a man exclaimed, "Stop blocking the way! Move aside!" The others cheered in response.

When Xiao Ying saw this her dull face blushed a bright red, tears welling in her eyes. "Why... Why must you speak like that?"

Xiao Pentou continued, "Was I wrong? I asked you to play the fake bride and didn't you refuse?"

Xiao Ying replied timidly, "It's true that I didn't play the bride... But did you have to slash... slash my dress?"

The moment she said this, Xiao Pengtou's face turned red with fury. He pointed at her face and yelled, "You ugly freak, don't slander people for such a petty thing! Me?! Slash (your) dress?! You probably did it yourself because you wanted to flash people! As if anyone would want to see an ugly face like yours! Even with a ripped dress! Don't blame this on me!"

Feng Xin couldn't bear to hear more of such talk and the teacup in his hand shattered. Just as he was standing up, a white silhouette drifted past. At the same time, Xiao Pengtou, who was jumping around madly, yelped and fell on his butt in the dirt. Holding his face while blood dripped from between his fingers.

No one in the crowd had a chance to see what exactly happened, not even Feng Xin or Mu Qing. At first, they thought that Xiao Ying had gone berserkYet when they looked at her, they couldn't actually see her. A white-clad figure was shielding her.

Xie Lian tucked his hands in his sleeves, not bothering to look at the crowd of gawking people. He grinned cheerfully at Xiao Ying, bending slightly at the waist to meet her eyes. "Miss, I was wondering if I could have the pleasure of inviting you for some tea?"

Xiao Pengtou was sprawled out on the ground. His mouth and nose were in excruciating pain; his entire face was in agony, as if he had just been hit in the face with a brutal steel whip. Yet this cultivator had no weapons on him, and he hadn't seen how the man had struck him.

He scrambled to crawl up, then brandished his blade yelling, "This man uses wicked magic!"

When the group of men heard the words "wicked magic" they immediately brandished their swords. (Crack!) Feng Xin struck out with a hand, making a pillar snap in two.

Having witnessed such godly strength, the color drained from each of the men's faces. Although paralyzed with fear, Xiao Pengtou remained stubborn and shouted as he ran away. "I concede defeat this time, where did you good men come from? Leave your names and we'll meet again someday..."

Feng Xin didn't even care to answer him, but next to him, Mu Qing replied, "Very kind, very kind, this one is the god of the Temple of Ju-"

Nan Feng struck out another hand, and the two began to fight. Xie Lian wanted to invite the little maiden in to sit and rest, order some fruit tea or something, yet before he could, she walked off on her own while wiping away tears. He sighed, watching her retreat, and returned inside the tea shop.

When he entered the tea shop, the tea master chided, "Remember to pay for that pillar."

So when Xie Lian sat down, he repeated the order, "Remember to pay for that pillar."

"..." Feng Xin didn't respond to that.

Xie Lian raised two fingers and entered the communication array.

The moment he entered, he heard Ling Wen say, "Your Highness finally managed to borrow some spiritual power? Is everything in the north going well? Were General Nan Yang and Xuan Zhen helpful?"

Xie Lian looked up at the pillar that Feng Xin broke, then at Feng Xin, then at Mu Qing, then back to the broken pillar.

"..."

"Let's just say they were... unique." Xie Lian responded.

Ling Wen chuckled. "Indeed."

"Your Highness." Ling Wen said. "Where have you settled? The north is ruled by General Pei, I'm sure you have found plenty of his temples and worshippers. Don't worry, he won't mind if you settle in one of his temples."

"That's the strange part, Ling Wen." Xie Lian responded. "There are no temples of Ming Guang here. We have instead settled in one of Feng Xin's temples."

If Ling Wen found this odd, she didn't say anything.

"I Have one quick question, Ling Wen."

"Anything Your Highness needs to know, I will do my utmost to inform him on." Ling Wen responded.

"Do you have any more information on the ghost groom?"

"Oh, we do indeed have new information on the ghost groom. The result of its rank evolution has just been processed in my palace. The ghost's rank is a Wrath."

A Wrath! So this wouldn't be as easy as Xie Lian had hoped.

So the ghost that had been holing up in the Mount Yujun area was only one rank below a supreme.

Xie Lian excused himself quickly to inform Feng Xin and Mu Qing of the new information.

"The palace of Ling Wen is so slow! To only come up with this information now is pitiful." Mu Qing complained.

"Don't be like that, Mu Qing, I'm sure they're working very hard." Xie Lian placated him.

"At the very least, we have a good understanding of our enemy's power." Xie lian said. "Since this is a Wrath ghost we are dealing with, a wooden dummy won't fool it at all. If we want to lure it out, we can't just cast a camouflaging spell on a puppet and call it a day. We need a living person.

"Then let's just find a woman on the street to use as bait." Mu Qing said.

Feng Xin immediately rejected the idea. "No."

"Why not?" Mu Qing retorted. "You think they'd be unwilling? Just give them a pile of money and they'd be willing then."

"Mu Qing even if they were willing, it's best if we don't do something like that." Xie Lian spoke up. "This ghost groom is a Wrath, if something goes wrong, nothing will happen to us, but a meek bride might not be able to escape or fight back, they would almost certainly be killed."

"If we can't use women, then we will have to use men." Mu Qing declared.

"But what man would be willing..." Feng Xin said.

They both turned to look at Xie Lian.

Xie Lian sat there and smiled, shrinking under their scrutiny. "???"