The Demon Venerable Is Delicate and Charming (GL) Chapter 62

Shen Duoyi felt Qi San’s attitude toward him was a little strange. Ever since they had left Li Zeng’s side, something had felt off. Along the way, Qi San answered him far more often than before. Shen Duoyi stood beside him, half a head shorter, with Qi San’s shadow faintly covering him. He savored the feeling, then said, “Qi San, why do I feel like you suddenly changed?”
Qi San turned his head. “What?”
“I just feel like you are treating me much better.” Shen Duoyi worked hard to organize his words. Then many stories he had heard suddenly surfaced in his mind. He grew alarmed, and even his tone rose. “You are not treating me as someone else, are you? In those stories people pass around, that is how it goes. If someone suddenly treats you well and becomes completely different from before, there must be something strange going on.”
Qi San: “…”
He was the strange thing…
But Shen Duoyi’s words had accidentally touched on a little of what was in his heart. Qi San sighed softly. “Actually, what you said is not wrong. It is only a little off.”
Shen Duoyi leaned closer.
Qi San said calmly, “I had a very close friend, but during a war, he unfortunately died. I could not protect him.”
A hundred swords had pierced that man. When Qi San found him, his body had already been ruined.
“You and he… have very similar personalities. I sometimes lose focus,” Qi San admitted.
Shen Duoyi was not angry. Instead, he very generously comforted Qi San. “Think of it more lightly. If you feel I can give you a little happiness, then just treat it that way. But can you really tell who I am? Won’t it feel awkward?”
“After all, there are still differences between us. Our personalities may be alike, but our appearances are not the same.”
Qi San fell silent for a few seconds. He and Shen Duoyi looked at each other for a moment, then Qi San calmly turned his head away. They truly were different. He knew that clearly, but he still could not help wanting to be a little closer. Reincarnation was reincarnation. The person he wanted, the person he longed to see, had died back then. Now, he was only trying to fill a little of the emptiness in his heart.
“So you are Shen Duoyi. I know that.”
Only then did Shen Duoyi smile openly. Then he asked again, longing impossible to hide in his eyes, “I heard you mention a battlefield just now. Were you a soldier before?”
Qi San said, “A general.”
Shen Duoyi cried out in surprise. “Really? But why don’t I remember anyone like you? And why did you go cultivate the Dao?”
“There is no need to bring up the past. There were too many twists and turns. It cannot be explained clearly in a short time.”
Since Qi San put it that way, Shen Duoyi stopped asking. He went on by himself. “I used to really want to become a general. I thought I could carry out my ambitions that way. But man proposes and heaven disposes, so I ended up walking this path instead. Do you know which general I like most?”
He did not wait for Qi San to answer before revealing it himself. “It is General Zhenwei, Qi Mu. Later generations say he was too brutal and killed people like grass, but in that kind of situation, without some harsh methods, how could he protect the country? How could he survive? They always say General Qi should have gone to hell after he died. Anyway, I do not believe it.”
The eyes beneath Qi San’s black robe trembled. He pressed his lips together and only spoke after a long while. “He did not go to hell.”
Shen Duoyi gave a casual mm, then suddenly reacted. “Really? How do you know?”
Qi San did not answer. He stood quietly for a moment, then asked, “Do you want to see what I look like?”
“Ah…” Shen Duoyi actually felt the request was strange, but he still nodded with expectation. “Of course. Why not?”
Qi San’s hands were not especially beautiful. There were thick old calluses on his fingertips, and his skin was somewhat rough. He rarely removed his black robe, but at this moment, his heart was unusually calm.
The inside of the black robe finally received the blessing of sunlight. Qi San lifted his eyelids. His eyes were deep and meaningful. His face was not ugly at all. It had a sharp, forceful look. His features were striking, with sword-like brows and bright eyes, and he carried a natural heroic air. There was only one frightening scar crossing his face, but it did not look out of place.
Shen Duoyi was slightly stunned by him. He felt he looked familiar. His eyes shifted, and he became amazed. “My heavens, you look especially like General Qi Mu in the paintings.”
But Qi San’s eyes did not have the cold-blooded sharpness of the paintings. If one looked at him for a long time, one would instead notice his gentleness.
Qi San gave a soft “mm.” “This should be fate.”
Shen Duoyi did not think too much of it. There were many people in the world who looked alike. Besides, he had always believed Qi San must have come from a border region. The surname Qi San used sounded a little like Qi Mu’s Qi, but perhaps because the local speech was different, the pronunciation was not the same.
He was just about to speak again when he heard Wen Si call him. Shen Duoyi apologized to Qi San and walked over, leaving Qi San standing in place.
Wuzhi squeezed Qi San’s shoulder and casually pulled the black robe back over him. At last, he showed a bit of the manner of a senior. “There is no need to keep remembering the past. Being able to meet him is already a good thing. What you should do now is handle your own matters well. Too much sunlight will make you uncomfortable. You still need to put yourself first.”
“I understand. Thank you.”
Wuzhi laughed softly again. He looked toward Li Lingjiang, who was surrounded by people. After staring at her thin body for a long while, he continued, “I heard from My Lord that someone died. Let us go watch the commotion.”
After saying that, he walked over first. Qi San lowered his eyes for a moment before following. The black robe was pressed low again.
The noise around Li Lingjiang made her ears ache and swell, but none of it showed on her face. She only watched Wen Si quietly. There was no inquiry in her gaze. Instead, it carried more of an invisible pressure.
Wen Si felt uncomfortable under her stare. He licked his lips. “Fellow Daoist Li, is something wrong?”
“Nothing.” Only then did Li Lingjiang move her gaze away. “Those two are dead. They stabbed each other to death. The water source also vanished. Perhaps you can wait for the next person to be guided by Heaven’s Mandate.”
“What do you mean? They killed each other?”
“Impossible. Liu Ying was so, so…”
“I do not believe it. Where are they? And how do you know?”
Several of Liu Ying’s close friends rushed in. Their eyes were red as they questioned Li Lingjiang, firmly refusing to believe it.
Even Bai Cang gave a sneer. “How is that possible? Liu Ying hurting Mu Mianmian? Who would believe that? Everyone knew how much she protected her. I am telling you, I saw them kissing with my own eyes in… Damn it!”
The red thread lashed Bai Cang hard. It hurt so much that he jumped up at once. Angry and afraid, he glared over, but Yin Wu did not even look at him.
She kept feeling that Li Lingjiang’s condition was a little strange, but she could not say exactly what was wrong. Just as she was about to bring Li Lingjiang out, everyone felt the ground beneath them begin to tremble faintly.
“Careful!”
No one knew who shouted. A huge crack appeared among them, splitting the ground in all directions. In an instant, the hundred or so people were divided apart. Yin Wu’s eyes lowered. Almost at once, she leaped to Li Lingjiang’s side, familiarly caught her wrist, and pulled her back.
The ground split open, dividing them into small groups. A huge sand figure slowly appeared before them, its whole body carrying scorching heat and forcing them to keep retreating and dodging.
Yin Wu looked back at Li Lingjiang. Thinking of something, she looked for Ling Xin and, as expected, found him looking at them. He clearly knew that the Jade-Bone Fan was especially effective against this kind of monster.
Her brows tightened. She did not quite agree with this decision. She called urgently, “My Lord!”
Li Lingjiang raised her eyes to her. The Jade-Bone Fan at her waist and abdomen had somehow become much brighter and smoother, and it made a crisp clinking sound against the string of copper coins. “Yin Wu, there is no rush.”
Yin Wu was rarely settled by one sentence. She frowned, but in the end, she said nothing. She drew out the red thread and leaped forward. The thread pierced straight through the monster’s body and nailed deep into the ground. With a hook of her finger, it gave a very faint hum.
This time, the other four had no intention of standing aside. By silent agreement, they decided to end the fight quickly. Wen Si and the others had the same plan.
Wen Si warned everyone not to lose formation and told Shen Duoyi to look for the people who had been separated and chased away by sand during the panic. His gaze shifted and lightly swept over Zhou Du. It was only one glance, and he quickly looked away.
Li Lingjiang watched them make their moves. She very lightly drew out the Jade-Bone Fan and spun it quickly around her fingertips. She looked at Ling Xin and said softly, “Ling Xin.”
Ling Xin nodded. This was clearly not the first time he had done such a thing, but his hands still shook despite himself. He held the Jade-Bone Fan and poured a vast amount of demonic power into it, while also watching Li Lingjiang’s condition from the corner of his eye. Pouring in demonic power was very quick. It was finished in the blink of an eye.
Li Lingjiang did not show the slightest discomfort. She looked at the demonic energy flowing inside the Jade-Bone Fan and gripped it hard. When she lifted her eyes again, the people beside her were already gone.
Feng Luan and Wuzhi worked together. Feng Luan used Wuzhi’s whip to cross directly over the monster. The monster was held firmly down by Yin Wu. It likely had not expected this situation. Just as it was about to struggle, Ling Xin’s blade chopped down at its head. Even though it could not strike a solid body, the wound it opened was enough.
The red thread was stretched tighter and tighter. Those cultivators also used their own power. Li Lingjiang straightened her body. Her lips moved slightly. “Yin Wu.”
In the next moment, she stepped up and landed on the thread. Her robes moved with her. The Jade-Bone Fan was like a part of her own body, carrying her dignity as it pierced straight through the monster. She barely looked again before landing steadily on the ground. Emotions churned in her eyes, surging and silent at once.
The Jade-Bone Fan and Feng Luan’s flute rarely worked together. Everyone only heard a cracking sound. At first, they thought it had come from the fan, but after that brief moment of distraction, the monster suddenly scattered apart. It rolled over the ground in pieces. Some people were still shocked, but their feet had already stepped down. When they found it worked, they began trampling wildly. The others saw and quickly copied them.
Li Lingjiang touched a fingertip to her chest. Yin Wu was just about to support her, but Li Lingjiang stopped her. She raised a hand before her lips, her voice faint and drifting. “Wait for me a little. I am going to find someone.”
Yin Wu did not follow. Li Lingjiang found Qi San alone. She looked at his still back and did not move forward. She only called, not loudly, “Qi Mu.”
Only then did Qi San turn around. He hooked the black robe down with one finger, and his eyes were completely dark. “My Lord.”
“Shen Duoyi is dead. I cannot find his soul. I came one step too late.”
Li Lingjiang still did not step forward. Instead, she quietly stared into Qi San’s eyes. “When you first came to the Underworld, the Underworld King had you atone for your sins.”
General Zhenwei had carried heavy sins all his life. He should have been barred from reincarnation forever, but the Ghost Lord still kept him.
“I remember what you said then. You said you wanted to repay your brothers.” Li Lingjiang had only been about a thousand years old at the time and happened to come across the matter.
Qi San lowered his eyes. “I remember clearly.”
“Wrong.” Li Lingjiang’s eyes softened, and she spoke very slowly. “You do not remember, Qi San. You are already no longer Qi Mu. You must know this. With reincarnation, that person is no longer that person.”
“Instead of blaming yourself here, you may as well find them with me.”
Li Lingjiang walked forward two steps and did not miss the flash of stunned confusion in his eyes. “Qi San, come here.”
Qi San did not move.
She did not hurry him. “I will wait for you here.”
The two faced each other for a long time before Qi San finally took a deep breath and began walking toward her. The muscles in his face were tight. He came to stand before Li Lingjiang.
He was clearly much taller than Li Lingjiang, yet he looked like a wolf lowering itself.
Li Lingjiang gazed at him and only said, “Qi San, while your pact remains, you will not perish.”
Her fingertips lifted the black robe, and she gently put it back over Qi San.
Just as she finished, scattered footsteps sounded. Ling Xin appeared first in her sight, his tone urgent. “My Lord, Yin Wu is missing.”